How often should internal audits be conducted?

Enough that every part of the operation is covered within a defined cycle, commonly annually, with higher-risk areas looked at more often. The schedule matters less than whether findings actually get closed, which is where most programs fail.

Who should conduct an internal audit?

Somebody independent of the area being audited. In a small operation that can mean a colleague from another department, a partner organization, or an external auditor, but it should not be the person responsible for the process under review.

Internal audit program

The cheapest safety activity there is

An internal audit program is how an operation finds its own problems on its own timetable. What separates one that works from one that does not is whether the schedule is small enough to survive a busy quarter, and whether a finding has somewhere to go once somebody raises it.

A quarterly warehouse audit in progress in RISE, 12 of 19 items complete with findings sorted into conforming, partially conforming and nonconforming, and a follow-up task raised, beside an auditor talking with a forklift operator and two colleagues reviewing results at a laptop

Why it matters

A finding you made yourself costs a conversation. The same finding made by somebody external costs considerably more, and lands on their timetable rather than yours. There is a second benefit operations tend to discover later: a program that routinely finds and closes its own problems produces exactly the evidence an outside reviewer is looking for, which is a pattern of issues raised, worked and shut. That pattern accumulates quietly across a year of ordinary work, and it is worth considerably more than any single audit.

What you end up with

An audit schedule matched to your operation
Checklists written for your processes
A corrective action process that closes findings

Questions

Questions about internal audit program

How often should internal audits be conducted?: Enough that every part of the operation is covered within a defined cycle, commonly annually, with higher-risk areas looked at more often. The schedule matters less than whether findings actually get closed, which is where most programs fail.
Who should conduct an internal audit?: Somebody independent of the area being audited. In a small operation that can mean a colleague from another department, a partner organization, or an external auditor, but it should not be the person responsible for the process under review.

Where to start

Tell us about your operation

A call about how your program runs today and the areas where it could be stronger. If this is the service you need, we will talk about what comes next. If it is not, we will point you toward the support that would help. Either way, you come away knowing what to do next. No obligation.